U.S. consumers will no longer see country-of-origin-labeling on beef and pork. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

That next steak or pork chop you buy at the grocery store could be from Mexico and beyond, but you'll never know it.

On Friday, Congress repealed the country-of-origin-labeling rule (COOL) on beef and pork after the World Trade Organization (WTO) imposed $1 billion in retaliatory import tariffs against United States if the rule was not overturned. The repeal was part of the omnibus spending bill signed by President Obama on Friday.

COOL mandates labels on packaging that reveal the country (or countries) where the meat animal was born, raised and slaughtered. While beef and pork will no longer have to comply with COOL rules, chicken and lamb must still be labeled.

Canada and Mexico had argued that the mandatory U.S. labeling program discriminated against meat imports and violated WTO limits on what sorts of product-related “technical regulations” WTO signatory countries are permitted to enact. Meatpackers also complained that the cost of complying with the COOL program was too burdensome. The United States has lost two rulings and two appeals with the WTO regarding COOL since 2011. The import tariffs were authorized by the WTO on December 7th.

After the repeal, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement: "Effective immediately, USDA is not enforcing the COOL requirements for muscle cut and ground beef and pork." He reassured consumers that “all imported and domestic meat will continue to be subject to rigorous inspections by USDA to ensure food safety.”

Critics of the repeal said that the WTO overturned a common sense label supported by a majority of Americans. 90% of those surveyed in 2013 favored country-of-origin-labeling for fresh meat sold in stores.

“Congress willingly kowtowed to international trade tribunals to gut COOL and even tossed out the labels for ground meats that the WTO ruled were totally trade-legal—a holiday gift to the meatpacking industry from Congress,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter.

Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) lamented that “Americans will no longer know where their meat is born, raised, and slaughtered." "This is bad public policy and bad for food safety," she continued. "We should not let trade agreements change our rigorous standards. Informed choice is a bedrock principle of the free market. This type of corporate roll-back of consumer protections will only become more commonplace under the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership.”

Dr. Ron Prestage, president of the National Pork Producer’s Council, released a statement expressing gratitude to Congress for repealing COOL. “I know tariffs on U.S. pork would have been devastating to me and other pork producers,” he said.

I’m a commentator, journalist and the president of Nancy F. Huehnergarth Consulting, which specializes in nutrition and physical activity advocacy and policy change. For six years, I was the executive director of the New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Allian...